AWS asks engineers to shut down idle cloud servers to ease compute pressure

Amazon AWS recently asked engineers to shut down unused cloud servers, mainly idle EC2 instances. As AI consumes more computing resources, the world's largest cloud provider faces a shortage. Data shows about 65% of EC2 instances have average CPU usage below 20% over 30 days, indicating serious waste. AWS upgraded its Compute Optimizer to analyze CPU and I/O data over 14 days, flagging VMs with peak CPU below 15% and low network traffic. Also, AWS added 3.8 gigawatts of power capacity last year, enough for 2.8 million homes. GPU cloud instances are key for AI training and running, and the AI boom is intensifying competition in cloud computing.